Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Last night I had the chance to meet up with some Flickr friends and it was great being able to chat, catch up on gossip and geek out about photography with people whose photography I really admire. So if you want to check their work as well click on the links below. Unfortunately, Yiannis is no longer displaying his stuff on Flickr.

Monday, September 29, 2008

"Carteco's latest project in Thessaloniki. A 24/7 access Design library for architects and young creatives with samples of the most innovative materials for architecture and design in the world, free use of 3 imac computers, free 24mbps wifi and internet connection, dock in stations fo your ipod in order to listen to your music while surfing the materials. A place to get inspiration, study the materials, work, do research, present your work to your clients and professors...."

Sunday, September 28, 2008

BollyButton tagged me for this quirky meme. Here are six unusual things about me.

1 My favourite food is grilled octopus. Hardly unusual here in Greece but there is no way I would have imagined eating it before I came here.

2 Even though I come from a family of truckers I can't drive a car.

3 I once drove from Athens to Rome on a Vespa.

4 When I was a kid I hated pizza and hamburgers. Unfortunately, I've overcome those early inhibitions.

5 I have a theory about the world which I call secular karma. Like it's spiritual version I believe that acts of kindness encourage others to do the same and eventually will return back to you in the form of help from strangers.

6 I've been in earthquakes, forest fires, riots and more traffic accidents than I care to mention. As a result I don't scare easily anymore.

Following in the wake of Barack Obama's controversy over the firey sermons of Jermiah Wright videos posted on YouTube (click here) show vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin taking part in an church ceremony in Wasillia, Alaska in which a preacher praying over the Alaskan governor, calls upon God to fight "the spirit of witchcraft", The video, taken by Max Blumenthal, has been appearing across the globe under the title, "Sarah Palin's exorcism".

The preacher, Bishop Muthee, founder of the Word of Faith church who held the service in May 2005 at the Assembly of God featuring Palin, claims to have rid the Kenyan town of Kiambu of witchcraft which his follower's claimed was the work of a local witch known as Mama Jane. According to the Tranformation promotional video produced by George Otis, Muthee's intervention in the Kenyan town resulted in a dramatic fall in crime and the accidental death rate in the community (click here to see an extract on the video featured in the documentary, Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave movement).

Although Palin no longer regularly attends the Wasillia Assembly of God church she was a member for nearly 25 years she was present at a service as recently as June 8 this year as a speaker for the graduation of the controversial Master's Commission program at the Wasillia Assembly of God. The visit itself drew fire from Anchorage Daily News which claimed that Governor Plain had paid for the journey to her old church using state funds.

However, Bishop Thomas Muthee is not the only source of controversy surrounding the Assembly of God. Senior preacher, Ed Kalnin, has repeatedly been the subject of media attention over his his sermons which have included the ideas such as all supporters of John Kerry would go to hell and that the end of the world or Rapture as it is known in US evangelical parlance would happen in his lifetime.

The initial boost to the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin offered, especially amongst female voter could backfire for the Republicans in November as more and more details of Palin's past come out, gleefully pounced upon by a media deeply angered by the McCain's attempts to control access to the vice presidential candidate (click here for an ABC report).

It could just be that Palin's candidacy may be the most damaging choice of VP since George McGovern fateful decision to ask Thomas Eagleton to join his ticket in the disasterous 1972 Democratic presidential campaign.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Panayotis Dimitras, head of the human rights organisation, Greek Helsiniki Monitor is facing possible charges of high treason and if convicted a life sentence for speaking out about minority rights in Greece.

Over this weekend 12 ecology groups have helped organised events to raise awareness of the problems caused by excessive car use in the city. Today it was the turn on the cyclist to promote alternative transport options in Thessaloniki.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

With the presence of 2000 extra police officers on the streets, snipers stationed on rooftops and helicopters circling overhead, downtown Thessaloniki resembles less a city celebrating the opening of a major trade fair than a town under siege.

The arrival of the Greek prime minister Kostas Karamalis in Greece’s second city has triggered massive street protests by those unhappy with his government’s handling of the economy and upset at a seemingly endless stream of financial scandals involving senior ministers.

In a keynote speech at the opening of the trade fair the prime minster tried to put a brave face on what has been a disasterous summer for the New Democracy administration by emphasising the need for reform of Greece’s ailing economy and by promoting public works such as the Thessaloniki underground which he says are proof that the present government has been able to improve the lives of ordinary Greeks.

However, critics have pointed out that despite five years of conservative rule the country, unlike neighbouring Turkey and Bulgaria has failed to attract increased foreign investment and that direct investment is now lower than in countries such as Uzbekistan.

Similarly, all except one of the major public works in Greece’s second city have ground to a halt due to lack of funding from Athens and that the much hyped underground is behind schedule and over budget.

Karamanlis and party officials have been keen to point out that Greece is suffering from the effects of worldwide problems caused by rising oil prices and a global credit crunch. However, many of the ruling New Democracy party’s problems appear to be strictly home made.

Their standing in the opinion polls has fallen dramatically over the 12 months since re-election as scandal after scandal has come to public light, many connected with dubious land deals involving ruling party MPs and ministers. As if to add to the government’s woes last week the party even faced accusations of tampering in a parliamentary vote.

In addition the rises in the cost of basic goods and services, which have long outstripped those in other European countries, stagnant wages and most recently swingeing tax increases for lower income groups have combined to undermine public confidence in the Greek government.

Opposition to government attempts to push through an unpopular political agenda has seen groups as disparate as cleaners and anarchists, police officers and communist trade unionists joined forces on the streets of Thessaloniki. Yesterday. Between ten and twenty thousand protesters marched to express their unhappiness with government policies and the state of the country’s political scene in general.

Whilst the march passed off peacefully, local media sources reported that small anarchist groups attacked shops and a bank afterwards and the police had made 15 arrests.

As part of the SEETA (South East European Teacher's Association) moodle discussion on the uses of L1 in the EFL/ESL classroom, Penny Ur made a call for teaching ideas that allowed students to use their own language in the classroom but allowed them to learn English more effectively. At first this may seem like a contradiction in terms as the more students use English the better they become. However, to ask learners to totally abandon something as important as their mother tongue is neither practical nor desirable when teaching.

So here are some ideas to integrate both L1 and L2 in ways that encourage learning.

1 - Play Telephone. Give a short passage in English, either spoken or written to a student.They then translate it into their own language and then pass it on to the next student. This student then translates it into English and then passes onto the next person in line who translate it into their own language and so own and so forth until the message ends up back at the beginning with the teacher.

You could then discuss what happened to the message and why perhaps it changed in meaning.

Then ask them to translate a cartoon or comic from their own language into English. Check out Arkas as an example in Greek. If possible compare their examples with other official translations. Is it faithful to the original? Is it still funny? Can it be improved?

3 Watch a short part of a film on DVD without sound but with the subtitles in the students own language. The students then translate into English the dialogue, utterence by utterence. This could be down by students working on their own at first. Then they get into groups and compare their versions and agree on a common translation.

4 The students then watch the film (with or without English subtitles, depending on the level) and discuss why their versions are different. Is it a matter of right and wrong? Or are there other matters at issue such as the inability to translate between languages without losing some of the original meaning?

In this particular activity a badly translated movie is just as useful as a well translated one.

As part of the SEETA (South East European Teacher's Association) moodle discussion on the uses of L1 in the EFL/ESL classroom, Penny Ur made a call for teaching ideas that allowed students to use their own language in the classroom but allowed them to learn English more effectively. At first this may seem like a contradiction in terms as the more students use English the better they become. However, to ask learners to totally abandon something as important as their mother tongue is neither practical nor desirable when teaching.

So here are some ideas to integrate both L1 and L2 in ways that encourage learning.

1 - Play Telephone. Give a short passage in English, either spoken or written to a student.They then translate it into their own language and then pass it on to the next student. This student then translates it into English and then passes onto the next person in line who translate it into their own language and so own and so forth until the message ends up back at the beginning with the teacher.

You could then discuss what happened to the message and why perhaps it changed in meaning.

2 Use comic strips (I talked about this exercise on my blog previously, click here to see). The basic idea is to get students to attempt to translate the humour in comic strips such as Doonesbury. Can it be done? Are the obstacles cultural, linguistic or is there something else?

Then ask them to translate a cartoon or comic from their own language into English. Check out Arkas as an example in Greek. If possible compare their examples with other official translations. Is it faithful to the original? Is it still funny? Can it be improved?

3 Watch a short part of a film on DVD without sound but with the subtitles in the students own language. The students then translate into English the dialogue, utterence by utterence. This could be down by students working on their own at first. Then they get into groups and compare their versions and agree on a common translation.

4 The students then watch the film (with or without English subtitles, depending on the level) and discuss why their versions are different. Is it a matter of right and wrong? Or are there other matters at issue such as the inability to translate between languages without losing some of the original meaning?

In this particular activity a badly translated movie is just as useful as a well translated one.

Supposedly this is a Chinese curse and although it's origins are obscure it still remains an apt way to worry and confound those who cross you. Indeed we are living in interesting times and with the global economic system facing the possibility of melt down you can't but help think of similar events in the past. There is a sense of eerie familiarity when one reads about failing banks, unsound lending policies, and government bail outs (click here to read the Guardian's take on all this).

Of course, the Great depression in the 1930's which was triggered by a Wall Street crash on Black Tuesday, October 29th, 1929 is the most obvious precedent but I'm also reminded of the stock market crisis that hit Asian markets on 27th October, 1997. Whilst that did not have a huge effect on the average European or North American consumer there were countries in South East Asia which were as badly effected by this as America had been during the 30's according to the historian Eric Hobsbawm in The New Century .

Just one last thing, many great stock market crashes happen, it seems in October.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Today I took part in a very interesting forum discussion on the uses of L1 (mother tongue to those who are unfamiliar with EFL/ESL jargon) with Penny Ur, one of the biggest names in teaching English as a foreign language. Ur has challenged the prevailing wisdom that in the ideal language classroom everything should be in English.

"The only really valid argument, in my opinion, in favour of minimizing (not banishing) L1 use is that over-use of L1 lessens the time available for English use in the classroom. Obviously we want our students to have maximum exposure to English in our lessons. But this means limiting L1 use, not banishing it altogether. Insisting on keeping to English even when students don’t understand what is being said may lead to the message ‘it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand’, or the morale-lowering assumption by learners ‘I don’t understand English’."

It was also great to see EFL/ESL practitioners in Greece and the wider Eastern Mediterranean area embracing web 2.0 technologies such as moodles in order to come together and exchange ideas.

To take part in this debate and next Sunday's discussion click on the SEETA moodle. Register and enjoy.

Today I took part in a very interesting forum discussion on the uses of L1 (mother tongue to those who are unfamiliar with EFL/ESL jargon) with Penny Ur, one of the biggest names in teaching English as a foreign language. Ur has challenged the prevailing wisdom that in the ideal language classroom everything should be in English.

"The only really valid argument, in my opinion, in favour of minimizing (not banishing) L1 use is that over-use of L1 lessens the time available for English use in the classroom. Obviously we want our students to have maximum exposure to English in our lessons. But this means limiting L1 use, not banishing it altogether. Insisting on keeping to English even when students don’t understand what is being said may lead to the message ‘it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand’, or the morale-lowering assumption by learners ‘I don’t understand English’."

It was also great to see EFL/ESL practitioners in Greece and the wider Eastern Mediterranean area embracing web 2.0 technologies such as moodles in order to come together and exchange ideas.

To take part in this debate and next Sunday's discussion click on the SEETA moodle. Register and enjoy.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

"Georgios Papandreou (Greek: Γιώργος Ανδρέα Παπανδρέου) (born June 16, 1952), Greek of Greek-American origin, has been leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party since February 2004. "The son and grandson of Greek prime ministers, he was Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs two times (1988-1989 and 1994-1996) and Minister of the Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004. In 2006 he became President of the Socialist International"

Actually, these events are full of striking images and often remind me of Kurosawa's Ran in that each group is colour coded. The trade unionists wear something orange or yellow, the anarchists with their red and black, the anarcho-ecologist, green and black, the communists decked out with their traditional red flags.

In addition to the more traditional groups the Greens were there to raise public awareness about the problems of carbon footprint created by the use of lignite by the Greece's publicly owned power company, DEH.

Employees from Olympic Airways were protesting against government attempts to sell off Greece's national airline.

The riot police were employed not just to keep protester from approaching the Trade Fair, but also to separate various groups within the march who spent as much time battling each other as they did the authorities.

"Dear Mom,

Just arrived in the city and it's very hot, Still, the people are very friendly and the police have been very helpful. I think they are all here to watch a soccer match. Hope everyone back there in Arkansas is doing well.

With the presence of 2000 extra police officers on the streets, snipers stationed on rooftops and helicopters circling overhead, downtown Thessaloniki resembles less a city celebrating the opening of a major trade fair than a town under siege.

The arrival of the Greek prime minister Kostas Karamalis in Greece’s second city has triggered massive street protests by those unhappy with his government’s handling of the economy and upset at a seemingly endless stream of financial scandals involving senior ministers.

In a keynote speech at the opening of the trade fair the prime minster tried to put a brave face on what has been a disasterous summer for the New Democracy administration by emphasising the need for reform of Greece’s ailing economy and by promoting public works such as the Thessaloniki underground which he says are proof that the present government has been able to improve the lives of ordinary Greeks.

However, critics have pointed out that despite five years of conservative rule the country, unlike neighbouring Turkey and Bulgaria has failed to attract increased foreign investment and that direct investment is now lower than in countries such as Uzbekistan.

Similarly, all except one of the major public works in Greece’s second city have ground to a halt due to lack of funding from Athens and that the much hyped underground is behind schedule and over budget.

Karamanlis and party officials have been keen to point out that Greece is suffering from the effects of worldwide problems caused by rising oil prices and a global credit crunch. However, many of the ruling New Democracy party’s problems appear to be strictly home made.

Their standing in the opinion polls has fallen dramatically over the 12 months since re-election as scandal after scandal has come to public light, many connected with dubious land deals involving ruling party MPs and ministers. As if to add to the government’s woes last week the party even faced accusations of tampering in a parliamentary vote.

In addition the rises in the cost of basic goods and services, which have long outstripped those in other European countries, stagnant wages and most recently swingeing tax increases for lower income groups have combined to undermine public confidence in the Greek government.

Opposition to government attempts to push through an unpopular political agenda has seen groups as disparate as cleaners and anarchists, police officers and communist trade unionists joined forces on the streets of Thessaloniki. Yesterday. Between ten and twenty thousand protesters marched to express their unhappiness with government policies and the state of the country’s political scene in general.

Whilst the march passed off peacefully, local media sources reported that small anarchist groups attacked shops and a bank afterwards and the police had made 15 arrests.

It takes a particular kind of political genius to build a coalition that includes groups as disparate as air stewardesses and anarcho-syndicalists, firemen and ecologists, cops and communists. However, Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis has indeed united all these people, however, all in opposition to his scandal - ridden government which seems incapable of getting through a week without one embarrassing revelation or another.

Dodgy land deals, suspicious financial transactions in business, even vote rigging in parliament are just some of the charges the conservative New Democracy party has faced in the 12 months since it was re-elected.